Each week on “Making a Difference,” our host, Tony, interviews people making a difference in their community. Today, Tony had the pleasure of speaking with Arthur Billingsley of COGNOSCERE.
Mercy Support Services is a Christ-Centered non profit that provides stability for families who are experiencing housing instability or homelessness.
Arthur Billingsley
President of COGNOSCERE
Website Address: www.cognoscerellc.com
Short company description:
Established in 2007, COGNOSCERE offers support services for information technology and information systems in strategic planning, requirements analysis, acquisition strategy, architectural analysis, enterprise architectures, systems integration, alternatives analysis and analytics, program management, knowledge and decision support services, gen AI/ML, LLM, information assurance security engineering, high-level modeling and simulation, business process re-engineering, technology migration and transfer and technology portfolio management. What lessons from sports have you applied to your personal life and career? Teamwork is key.
How do you define success?
Useful outcomes of directed activities.
What strategies do you use to improve your performance?
Journey Prism – Process/procedure from COGNOSCERE https://www.amazon.com/Letter-My-Children-Journey-Manual/dp/B0F92KHFMQ
Can You Discuss a Time When You Had to Work with a Team to Achieve a Goal?
In 1994, using DoD acquisition reform initiatives, I formed and led an Integrated Product Team to collaborate as a team with the prime contractor in reviewing and understanding the Mil-STD, Mil-SPEC project performance specifications. Since the initial performance requirements had changed since project initiation, the integrated project team (IPT) proposed and implemented changes to the performance specification. The project was then baselined, and the integrated project team worked to deliver a commercially baselined unit within 18 months of rebaselining. The commercially baselined unit demonstrated superior operational performance against many requirements and met all requirements. We leveraged an open systems architecture (OSA) with commercially available components and reused software (ADA and C) from the previous development efforts. The principle, used at that time, to enable sweeping project changes to all elements of the project was “build a little, test a little.” The collaborative development of the rebaselined performance specification allowed the prime contractor to deliver units that met or exceeded project requirements while reducing overall acquisition costs. The principles of the agile manifesto are repeatable, manageable, understandable, and effective. From my experience, these principles should be considered “best practices” for innovative and collaborative environments.
Transcript:
Tony:
Welcome to another episode of Making a Difference. I’m your host, Tony Davis, and with me today is the owner of COGNOSCERE, Arthur Billingsley. Arthur, welcome to the show. Great to have you on.
Arthur:
Great to be here. Thank you for having me on.
Tony:
Absolutely. Tell me about COGNOSCERE, and tell me a little about your story as well.
Arthur:
My story starts right out of high school. In 1978, I joined the Navy with a good friend of mine from Birmingham, Alabama. I stayed in for 26 years total, 22 of those on active duty, and retired in 2004 as a commander.
After retiring, I wanted to start my own business, but I didn’t know enough about the commercial side. So I went to work for some larger companies, as well as a smaller company, to learn that side of the business. In 2007, I launched my own company, COGNOSCERE, and I’ve been doing consulting off and on ever since.
Tony:
Great. And thank you for your service. What type of consulting does COGNOSCERE provide?
Arthur:
COGNOSCERE focuses on IT management, strategy, and leadership. There needs to be a balance. You don’t want the wrong type of IT or the wrong information tools to achieve the outcomes you’re looking for.
We come in and look at organizations holistically. That includes their supply chain, customers, competitors, and desired outcomes. Then we assess what the team is capable of, how they’re trained, and what tools they can best use. It’s not just about getting the best tools if the team isn’t ready for them.
Tony:
That sounds very comprehensive.
Arthur:
It can be. One of the biggest trends right now is AI. It’s definitely a double-edged sword. AI is a powerful tool that enables businesses and individuals to be more productive. At the same time, it also enables bad actors and increases security risks by expanding the threat vector space.
AI is a productivity enabler, but it’s still just a tool. It may change some job requirements, but not all jobs. For example, AI can do some tasks a junior analyst might do, but you still need junior analysts to learn, grow, and eventually become senior analysts.
Arthur:
The human factor is extremely important. Many people worry that AI will take over jobs, but I don’t believe that entirely. We still need people.
In the 1990s, we talked about the idea of a paperless office. That never fully happened because customers, suppliers, and competitors weren’t paperless. We had to integrate with them. Thirty years later, we’re facing a similar situation with AI and data centers.
Data is segmented across industries and even within companies, especially when dealing with personal or secure information. You can’t fully leverage AI without addressing security, segmentation, and operational safeguards. We help companies identify these challenges, build strategies, create roadmaps, and implement solutions.
Tony:
Communication skills are more important than ever, and it’s critical not to rely more on AI than on the human factor.
Arthur:
Exactly. You can think of it like a beehive. COVID showed us that remote work is possible, but it can’t last forever. People need to come together periodically. Those face-to-face moments allow for side conversations, knowledge sharing, and collaboration that don’t happen on agenda-driven Zoom calls.
Those “watercooler” moments, training opportunities, and cultural exchanges are what distinguish one company from another. Without them, companies become interchangeable.
Tony:
As we wrap up, tell us about your books. You’ve authored two.
Arthur:
Yes, I’ve written two books over the past year or so. The first is Letter to My Children. It’s based on over 40 years of notes, lessons learned, passages, scriptures, and leadership insights that I wanted to pass on to my kids.
The second book is American Myths, American Realities. This one is more outward-facing and focuses on leadership and societal assumptions. It breaks down commonly held myths, explains why they’re myths, and explores how we can reconstruct better solutions.
Tony:
Very interesting. If a business owner wants to get in touch with you, how can they do that?
Arthur:
They can visit COGNOSCERELLC.com or find me on LinkedIn under Arthur Billingsley. If you Google my name, there are only a couple of others that come up, a detective and a musician, so you’ll find me pretty easily.
Tony:
Thank you so much for joining us. It’s been a pleasure.
Arthur:
Thank you.
Tony:
And that wraps up another episode of Making a Difference. Thank you for watching, and take care.
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